Winston Churchill’s Iron of Curtain speech has been seen in retrospect as one of the first signs of the oncoming Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. In this speech Churchill lays out why he believes that in the wake of the Second World War, Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe was causing a deep divide in the continent and ultimately something much more significant a clash of two global powers for preeminence in the second half of the twentieth century. This speech was one of the most important moments of the twentieth century and it would prove to be predictive of the coming Cold War.
Churchill’s concerns with the Soviet Union and their desire for the “fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.” (Churchill, 1995) Is interesting because it brings up a very important point about the larger goals of the United States and the United Kingdom during the Second World War. The Western Allies fought together in Churchill’s own words for “permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries.” (Churchill, 1995) This meant that any kind of threat especially the threat of Soviet, Communist totalitarianism being spread all over the world would be very much opposed to the reasons why the US and UK fought a war for the spreading of liberal democracy and the preservation of world peace.
Churchill’s concern with Soviet power especially in its own neighborhood, especially Eastern Europe was that it should as far was possible be made known that it was a power which was viewed in parity with the Western allies. Churchill’s opposition to Soviet power was instead focused on another much more poignant moment. The construction of the famous “Iron Curtain” in which Eastern Europe “lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.” (Churchill,1995) Churchill’s opposition was not to the Soviet Union defending itself or being considered a world power his issue was with what seemed to be the problem of the irresistible expansion of Soviet power in Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia. This greatly contributed to one of the cores of Western Cold War policy through the expansion of the concept of the containment of Soviet power. This could also be expanded to another very important point about the relationship between the West and the Soviet Union.
Winston Churchill asserts that the Russians admire military strength and despise weakness. This could easily be interpreted as a call for Western military confrontation with the Soviets. Instead what Churchill is calling for the “Western democracies” to stand together against a common enemy and thus improve their chances of dealing with such a daunting foe. (Churchill, 1995) What Churchill is effectively asking for is for the United States and the important Western democracies to throw away the old fashioned concept of balance of power and instead focus on collective security. Furthermore, Churchill’s choice of giving such an important speech in the United States was premeditated. Churchill understood that the United States was the most powerful country on earth and that if there was anyone who would be interested and able to stop the Soviet menace it would be the US. This just set up an ever greater tension between the United States and the Soviet Union which would ultimately lead to the Cold War.
Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech was one of the defining moments of the immediate post World War II era. It was one of the first times that any public official directly acknowledged the threat of Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe and the resolve that it would take from the Allies to stop them from going much further. This movement was one of the first times in which the conflict which would become the Cold War was explained and how it would impact Western foreign policy and diplomacy for the foreseeable future.
References.
Churchill, W. (1995). Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech. Retrieved August 09, 2016, from http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html
